Poultry scienceMar 18, 2026

CRISPR/Cas9 causes high DNA damage while CRISPRi has limited effectiveness in chicken reproductive cells

CRISPR Gene Editing Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 19, 2026

Abstract

CRISPR/Cas9 induced substantial DNA damage and apoptosis in chicken primordial germ cells while achieving high editing efficiency.

High editing efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9 was observed in chicken primordial germ cells.
Substantial DNA damage and apoptosis were induced by CRISPR/Cas9 in these cells.
Sex-specific cell cycle arrest was noted following CRISPR/Cas9 application.
CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) showed good tolerance but failed to effectively repress genes in chicken cells.
CRISPRi functioned efficiently in human cells but not in chicken primordial germ cells or somatic DF-1 cells.
A trade-off exists between the efficiency and toxicity of CRISPR tools in avian germ cells.

Simplified

CRISPR/Cas9 technology has transformed genome editing across species; however, its application in avian germ cells remains constrained-not only by editing efficiency, but also by limited evaluation of potential genotoxic effects. In this study, we systematically assessed the performance and genomic safety of CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi) in chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs). While CRISPR/Cas9 achieved high editing efficiency, it simultaneously induced substantial DNA damage, apoptosis, and sex-specific cell cycle arrest, revealing the pronounced genotoxic sensitivity of PGCs. In contrast, CRISPRi was well tolerated but failed to achieve effective gene repression in chicken cells. Comparative experiments showed that CRISPRi functioned efficiently in human 293T cells but not in chicken PGCs or somatic DF-1 cells, suggesting species-dependent limitations of mammalian-optimized repression systems. Together, these findings reveal a fundamental trade-off-"efficient but toxic" versus "safe but ineffective"-when applying CRISPR tools to avian germ cells. Our results highlight the need for species-adapted, low-toxicity genome-editing platforms in poultry and provide a framework for evaluating editing strategies in developmentally sensitive cell types.

Full Text

We can’t show the full text here under this license.

View Full Text ↗

Funding

Competing interests

Disclosures The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

PubMed

CRISPR/Cas9 causes high DNA damage while CRISPRi has limited effectiveness in chicken reproductive cells

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Recent issues from the crispr gene editing brief